Do people trust Amazon more than Apple?

We’re gonna find out.

The rap on Apple Music was it was going to win because of trust and credit card numbers. People believed in Apple and it was one click shopping.

Then again, Steve Jobs licensed that technology from Amazon. And with Steve Jobs gone, I trust Jeff Bezos. I never talk to Siri, but I converse with Alexa all the time.

So, the scoop is you can stream all the music for $7.99 a month or $79 a year, assuming you’re a Prime member, and estimates put that at 54 million in the U.S. Amazon has more Prime customers than not. And, they’re paying. Apple might have credit card numbers, but Amazon has the cash. And Prime is addictive, once you buy in, you buy regularly, for that two day shipping, to earn your money back. Will Amazon win in music?

Not at first.

But the target here is Apple, not Spotify. You go for the low hanging fruit. Apple put Rdio out of business, put a dent in the growth of Deezer, as for Tidal…the tide has yet to come in, those musicians at that press conference are out to sea and no one’s throwing them a life preserver. If you’re too anxious to go with the upstart Spotify, Amazon is a safe choice.

But you still have to pay. That’s a big barrier to climb over. But if you are gonna pay…

But music is in Apple’s DNA!

Does anybody use an iPod anymore? Music is fluid, ever-changing, and saying Apple is about music is denying it’s the iPhone company.

But now the price war has begun. Ten bucks a month is too much. Most people never spent $120 a year on music. And the dirty little secret is many people are not paying ten bucks a month anyway, they’re on discount subscriptions.

We’re in search of a relevant price point that will bring everybody on board. Just like with mobile phones, there’s a tipping point, when people say yes.

But baking services into cell phone contracts didn’t juice adoption significantly.

So maybe this is a great big dud. After all, Spotify has a free tier. You can try before you buy. It’s like crack, you get addicted. And the history of the internet is he who gains traction first and sustains it…

Wins.

Amazon may just be too late. Like with downloads. They sold ’em, but Apple had too much traction, never mind the convenience factor.

Will the software work?

No matter what anybody says, Samsung’s reputation just took a hit. Recall a device once and I cut you a break, twice and I think you’re inept. We expect everything to work right, right out of the box. Will Amazon Music Unlimited’s app do so?

We’ll see!

Amazon failed with the Fire phone.

And my Kindle is a bug-ridden device. Underpowered and frustrating. Apple may have lost a step, but it’s still much better than its competitors.

But one thing we do know is streaming is here to stay. That’s the most significant element of this announcement, the endorsement of streaming. Everybody’s gonna get the memo. That’s right, there are still people on the sidelines who think downloads are best, never mind CDs, they don’t know how streaming apps work, the synching of playlists.

But now that Amazon’s in the game…

Spotify’s got too big a head start. They operate around the world. And they keep innovating. And it’s all they do. Look at what they did with the Echo Nest, there are only a limited number of players in the space.

Apple thought it could win through marketing.

Amazon thinks it can win through name recognition and price.

Spotify is winning on tech, usability…

Then again, Sony lost the VCR wars, Beta was better than VHS but the latter was cheaper.

And now Amazon is cheaper. Never underestimate the price sensitivity of a consumer, especially when the competitor is so well trusted.

Then again, can Spotify match the price?

This is all good for the music industry. Happy days are here again. You can get all the music for one low price a month, there’s a mania about music that’s been absent for far too long, it’s about time we stole the thunder from Netflix.

But you can’t get everything at Netflix.

You can get everything at Amazon, Apple, Deezer, Napster…

One service will be triumphant, because of social, you go where your friends are. Amazon has made its move.

A better move would have been to buy Spotify, then it would be game over.

Who’s got the courage to buy Spotify and win?

Google? Red has got no traction. It bought YouTube, can’t it buy Spotify?

Or how about Apple buying the service, eliminating its bug-ridden crap app. There might be antitrust issues, but we’d have a clear winner.

Price comes first.

Assuming there’s usability.

Then comes social.

These are huge thresholds. With huge implications if you succeed or fail. Apple has been hurt by failing out of the box, it’s like someone who showed up late in crummy clothes asking for a second date.

People are already dating Amazon, that’s what makes it so fascinating.

The future is here.

And it’s so bright, you gotta wear shades.

Why don’t we turn the clock to zero honey
We’re starting up a brand new day

It’s a beautiful day in Southern California. The weather’s not why I moved here, but it’s an incredible bonus.

Didn’t start out that way. Gray and misty ruled the day. Traffic was insane.

And then everything started to fall into place.

I’ve been through a rough stretch. Everything has gone wrong.

And then you have one day when everything works out and you feel EUPHORIC!

They came to fumigate my house. Termites were on the march. Rather than tenting it they used this new process where you can stay inside, they said it was even safe for babies! But the guys were dressed up like ghostbusters, made me worry.

And on the computer everybody was looking for me, opportunities were plentiful, I got on the 405 and every song sounded good. I’m listening to Kenny Chesney’s mother testify about him, the man himself talk about hearing a new song while lying on a bed in Stowe, Vermont, and then they spun “Made Your Mind Up” from Joe Walsh’s 1981 album “There Goes The Neighborhood” and I could not ask for anything more.

Yes, I miss the east coast, the changing of the trees. I pull up the cams and see what’s going on in the aforementioned Stowe, Mad River Glen, I peep the leaves from thousands of miles away. I remember what once was, but so much of it I don’t want to relive.

Like going to college.

I’m reading a riveting book, entitled “The Loner.” You’ve got to look up every third word but the plot is so intriguing. No-name nerd gets into Harvard and becomes infatuated with the freshman icon.

He looks her up online. He dates her roommate to get a peek. He takes the same classes she does. I haven’t finished it yet, it’s turning, he’s making some execrable choices, but before that…

I’m looking to go down the rabbit hole.

That’s your job, the role of the artist, to grab our leg and drag us under.

So, you grind in high school to get into a good college. And you miss out on your salad days, all those people who say high school was the best years of their lives, you’re clueless.

And you’re a virgin, if you’ve even kissed a girl.

And just about everybody you’re thrown in with is the same. The boys, the girls. They’re away from mommy and daddy, they want to experiment, opportunities abound.

Or do they?

What can I tell you, I heard “Groovin'” on the radio last night. Felix Cavaliere is still walking the earth, how can that be, how can genius hide in plain sight?

And I listened to Malcolm Gladwell say life was all about courage, a willingness to go against the grain. That’s what leaders do. If you’re the most popular person in class, chances are you’re going to be superseded by someone taking risks.

And Gladwell also talked about bias, the inability to see things straight, because you’re invested in the outcome. Like the Rand Corporation in Vietnam. The interviews with Viet Cong defectors said they were winning, when the opposite was just the case.

You just can’t beat hearts and minds.

So my eyes glossed over during the debate. It occurred to me that you’re gonna vote for who you want to and I’m gonna vote for who I want to and the undecideds are people I just cannot understand or relate to, you mean you can’t make up your mind?

But that’s twenty first century America, where we’ve all got our own facts and argument rules the day.

But then you get on the freeway, rev it up to 70, crank up the tunes and you’ve got a smile on your face, you’re living in a brand new day.

I’m pinching myself. Telling myself it will end. Wishing I could retain my optimism.

Maybe that’s possible, maybe it truly is a brand new day.

You’re the sum of my equation
I’m the answer to your question
If you follow my suggestion
We can turn this ship around
And go up instead of down
You’re the pan and I’m the handle
You’re the flame and I’m the candle
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
We’re starting up a brand new day

Sting “Brand New Day”

“Loner: A Novel”

TOP FORTY

“Closer”
The Chainsmokers

Mediabase #1
Spotify #1

Spotify daily streams: 1,568,337
Spotify cume: 393,428,845

ACTIVE ROCK

“Bang Bang”
Green Day

Mediabase #1
Not in Spotify US Top 50

Spotify cume: 9,323,059

URBAN

“No Limit”
Usher

Mediabase #1
Not in Spotify US Top 50

Spotify cume: 27,481,298

AC

“Just Like Fire”
Pink

Mediabase #1
Not in Spotify US Top 50

Spotify cume: 77,225,347

HOT AC

“Treat You Better”
Shawn Mendes

Mediabase #1
Spotify #21

Spotify daily streams: 529,544
Spotify cume: 323,113,303

COUNTRY

“It Don’t Hurt Like It Used To”
Billy Currington

Mediabase #1
Not in Spotify US Top 50

Spotify cume: 17,885,583

TRIPLE A

“Waste A Moment”
Kings Of Leon

Mediabase #1
Not in Spotify US Top 50

Spotify cume: 9,259,906

ALTERNATIVE

“Heathens”
Twenty One Pilots

Mediabase #1
Spotify #5

Spotify daily streams: 841,319
Spotify cume: 315,468,425

URBAN AC

“Permission”
Ro James

Mediabase #1
Not in Spotify US Top 50

Spotify cume: 12,938,016

RHYTHMIC

“Broccoli”
D.R.A.M.

Mediabase #1
Spotify #4

Spotify daily streams: 867,946
Spotify cume: 143,047,870

DANCE

“My Way”
Calvin Harris

Mediabase #1
Spotify #19

Spotify daily streams: 543,959
Spotify cume: 60,720,650

It’s all about trust.

Shane Smith and his roving group of merrypersons are going to take over the news business, they’re gonna hijack it in plain sight, just like MTV became the music juggernaut.

But this is different. Because Vice is built for the twenty first century. Where how you look is secondary to who you are.

The hosts were a cornucopia of sexes and ethnicities. They looked like America. Where everybody is just not an old white man.

The show was strangely riveting, like watching a younger, hipper, version of “60 Minutes.” It was news with gravitas for an educated viewer, it was a home run.

And it will only get better.

We can argue all day long whether millennials watch television.

One thing we know for sure is HBO is the most trusted name in television, its imprimatur is priceless, and yes, millennials do watch “Game Of Thrones.”

And they’re newshounds.

Forget Fox News. Its audience is so aged the outlet should be sponsored by mortuaries.

The networks think it’s about slickness. The local stations are a joke, peopled by bimbos, both male and female, it’s a caricature of the news.

But “Vice News Tonight”… It was the real thing.

While all its competitors are cutting back, believing it’s about balancing the books, Vice is doubling-down and will take over, right under everybody’s noses, it’s quite a remarkable story. Vice knows the marketplace has changed, people want to know and they want someone/something to trust, and if you provide this…

It’s a clubhouse for nerds. And last I checked, nerds ruled the earth. Not the pocket protector geeks of yore, but those unworried about looks and image who are focused on their identity.

The laugh is on the entertainment industry. Trumpeting nitwits and thinking it’s winning. You can make bank on Gigi Hadid and Kim Kardashian, you just can’t capture people’s souls. You’ve got a tribe of nincompoops who believe image is everything who will graduate into becoming nerds and then what?

And in music, we’ve eviscerated credibility, we tell each other it doesn’t matter. That you can sell out to everybody, sacrifice your identity for the buck. Nothing could be further from the truth. Try taking a stand, saying no, that will bond a team to you that will carry you through thick and thin. We live in a flavor of the month culture, and for that we can blame the institutions run by old men, cynical baby boomers and Gen-X’ers, who not only market the songs, but write them too.

I’m sick of this aspirational b.s. Where we’re told if we’re just skinny enough, just beautiful enough, we can be happy.

And that being happy is being rich.

No, being happy is making a difference, being part of a team that is changing the world. Canvass the youngsters, you’d be stunned to find out this is true.

Right now the number one place you want to work at is Vice. Which knows the trappings are irrelevant, and that the core is everything.

They humanized Glenn Beck, a seeming impossibility.

They illuminated prison rebellion.

And used the imagery of the web in a fresh way. It was Buzzfeed with substance. When everybody else is going for lowest common denominator, it leaves the stratosphere completely empty.

The “New York Times” keeps laying people off. And its video is so lame, high school students could do a better job.

Cable news is so self-important as to be dismissed. Come on, who are these people, who do no reporting and constantly give their opinions like we should care?

It will only get better.

And if you’re focused on ratings, you’ve missed the memo.

Vice is everywhere. Online, on TV, it’s the outlet of choice. It’s got boots on the ground globally when every other enterprise has brought the reporters home.

This is utterly fascinating to watch. This is why we continue to live. To find those willing to do it differently who engage us, startle us, make us think.

BRAVO!